Nikolai Zherdev was awarded a one-year, $3.9 million contract following his hearing on Friday. He was looking for $4.75 million, while the Rangers were offering less than $3.2 million. He had 23 goals and 35 assists in 82 games last year

Now the Rangers walked away, but this must help Kessel's case for more money than people around here seem to think PC is willing to offer since Kessel had 36 goals and 24 assists in 70 games last year.

i agree with you because zherdev hasnt proven himself as much as kessel has. the only thing is that kessel and him are two different players. kessel is a goal scorer and by lookin at zherdev's stats it looks like he is more of a playmaker than goal scorer. but if kessel looks at it total point wise then he will think exactly what u said. but either way kessel is asking for too much already, once he hits 40-50 goals then he can ask for 4M+ but he should be happy w/ krejci money if not less.

Zherdev also has 0% heart, which was extremely noticable in NY. Kess has heart.

Bottom line is Kessel and Chiarelli both have plenty of time to hammer out a contract; I'm sure if they're far apart they're both taking their time and negotiating the right way, not screwing up relations. Plenty of time for both sides to be appeased and Peter to strip off more salary if need be.

Nikolai Zherdev was awarded a one-year, $3.9 million contract following his hearing on Friday. He was looking for $4.75 million, while the Rangers were offering less than $3.2 million. He had 23 goals and 35 assists in 82 games last year Now the Rangers walked away, but this must help Kessel's case for more money than people around here seem to think PC is willing to offer since Kessel had 36 goals and 24 assists in 70 games last year.Posted by cad11

You can't measure salaries through arbitration value. The reason being is because the money tends to fluctuate about 15%-20% more than what a player would get via free-agency.

So what your implementing purposely or not is that Kessel is a $5-$6mill player? Because if Nik got $3.9mill having sub-par stats then Kessel will get Crosby money through an arbitration hearing.

This does not give Kessel any moving power what so ever, it's an irrelevant situation for him. He has no arbitration rights so therefor cannot you use it to his advantage. Regardless if he did or not, what ever he would win if indeed in the $5mill+ area Chiarelli would then deal him at that point.

You're only getting half a season for Kessel. Sign him in November for $4MM, of which you only pay him $2MM...If he puts up HUGE numbers again, then you can sign him a bigger contract. He's been up and down and a LOT of players (as what I ahve been looking at) who have come back from rotator cuff injuries have had their production dip. If the Bruins can't score, Kessel is laughing. If Bergie, Sturm, Recchi, Ryder, Wheeler, Lucic, Bitz - all put out 20+ - Chia is laughing. Love the kid.

For such as high of regarded and touted young player as Nik is, it's sure a sub-par year. Although his character is awful (no heart, no determination) "experts" claim he's a 35-goal 70+ points player, he's that talented. For the record he had 58 points not 60 points which included a disappointing 23-goal campaign.

Zherdev also has 0% heart, which was extremely noticable in NY. Kess has heart. Bottom line is Kessel and Chiarelli both have plenty of time to hammer out a contract; I'm sure if they're far apart they're both taking their time and negotiating the right way, not screwing up relations. Plenty of time for both sides to be appeased and Peter to strip off more salary if need be.Posted by Skaswatch

I vote that teams can buy salary cap space from other teams!Posted by ErnestoGiove

I can see it now: Phoenix sells most of it's cap space and puts an AHL team on the ice. It would save the franchise!

On topic, there is a flip side to the argument. If the Rangers were unwilling to pay so much for Zherdev, it could be argued that such a high salary is no longer the market value for a young goal scorer, so Kessel should not be looking for big money.

At the very least cad11 it shows us that by NHL standards it sits Kessel at a worth of about 4.5-5.0M per season. Similar to what Kessel's party is probably seeking.Posted by dhitch

Why do people keep assuming he's asking for 4.5-5 million per. His agent and him both said they are not seeking that kind of money. He's only 21 so regardless of how long the Bruins sign him for, they have control of him for at least 5 years b/c he's not eligible to become unrestricted until Age 27. I think you'll see the Bruins move Kobasew and sign Kessel to a 1 yr 3.5mil contract. He's not going to get 5 million a year, not here, not anywhere.....

Next year is going to be difficult because we have to re-sign Lucic, Wheeler, Savard, Kessel? They are all going to want big pay days.

In Response to Re: Zherdev vs. Kessel : It's unlikely Montreal would find the cap space, even if they did want him.Posted by Kennedy97

I believe the habs have around 3 mil. left, if they rounded up a few peanuts it could be done. The bruins are a long ways off of signing Kessel in comparison. He's a hab kind of player, over paid and under achieving cast away....with big potential.

No argument that MTL has some guys who haven't lived up to their paychecks. But they don't go out of their way to acquire them, especially when space under the cap is tight and there are still guys they may want to sign.

I can't see it unless they make some deals, and they've already made a bunch. I don't know how much more they'd be able to do, even if they did want to take that risk.

I don't see how it helps Kessels after seeing how NYR walked away from the amount awarded to Zherdev, and no one has jumped on that number yet either. I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps ship to the KHL.

Kessel also has no arbitration rights as mentioned earlier.

Basically, unless there's an offer sheet (which there won't be), Kessel is our property whether or not he plays this year.

Arbitration is stupid, because they only look at the numbers the player puts up and award him accordingly....They dont take into fact any other characteristic of the player. Remember Zherdev was awarded 3.9, He didnt get anything because NY didnt sign him.....He's not worth that much and neither is kessel.....Would kessel be awarded more, probably so, because his numbers are better, but he sure isnt worth more.....

They need to go back and reevaluate how the arbitration works. They cant base it off numbers, but then again how else would you rule....other than numbers. We'll I guess that is for the team to decide after the ruling.

Question: If a player is awarded a certain amount through arbitration, can the team and player still negotiate afterwards, based on the amount awarded. Or do they have to match the arbitration number, if not does the player walk... So, in the case of NY and Zherdev. Could they still negotiate a middle number or is the 3.9 set in stone, take it or leave it.......I believe the answer is take or leave it.

Question: If a player is awarded a certain amount through arbitration, can the team and player still negotiate afterwards, based on the amount awarded. Or do they have to match the arbitration number, if not does the player walk... So, in the case of NY and Zherdev. Could they still negotiate a middle number or is the 3.9 set in stone, take it or leave it.......I believe the answer is take or leave it.Posted by bgrif008

I don't think arbitration is binding, or neither the team nor the player would have any options. NYR does...they walked away. Therefore, while I don't know this as fact, I would guess it wouldn't be illegal for both the NYR and Zherdev to ignore the ruling--the reality is, though, that neither has any reason at this point to do so, since they negotiated plenty before arbitration occurred, and reached an impasse.

But, for example, perhaps the Rangers could say "Hey, we'd really like you to stay in NY, but we only think you're worth 3.1 million dollars, no matter what the arbitrator says. And we're prepared to let you walk if you don't sign for 3.1." Zherdev could say "I really, really want to stay in NY, so I guess I'll take it and not explore options with other teams or in Russia". I don't know for sure, but I don't think that would be illegal--I just can't really see it happening. Most players aren't going to budge if they win the arbitration.

I do know that if this ever happened, the NHLPA would go bezerk. It would set a bad precedent for them if a player took less than the arbitrator's award.

Like I said, I'm just guessing, and could be wrong here, and if anyone knows for sure, please correct me.